A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game

This is the first book is a series of four (as of 2002) which are intended to help a potential player go from a complete beginner to a reasonable competent amateur. This is no trivial undertaking, for the simplicity of Go's rules hide and incredible complexity of play. Not only are bad habits hard to undo, but the gap between the lower levels of play are so large that it can be very discouraging to climb the first few hills.What Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-hyun have done here is to present the central ideas of the game in a careful, step-wise manner that is readable by anyone from about nine years old on. If a parent were willing to take the time, he or she could use this book to learn enough to teach a much younger player. Yet the information presented is still substantial, covering the basics of life, forming territory, capturing, connecting, and Ko fighting. I hate to admit it, but I found a thing or two in it that I had forgotten. Frequent examples and questions are provided so that the reader has many opportunities to test his or her knowledge. Little bits of Go history are provided as well. In the back of the book is a cardboard folding board and pop out playing pieces. These are a really too small for a playing adult, although they would make a neat lightweight traveling package for working out puzzles and playing in unexpected places. It does allow a child to get some practice playing before then investment in a decent board and pieces it made.I have been recommending this series to people for some time, since really good texts for beginners are rare. However, I have never taken the time to read them from cover to cover. Having done so, I am quite impressed. I do think that at one should buy at least the second volume in this series as well. This book reads very quickly, and one needs a bit more for a fair start. One thing is certain, it would be hard to get a better start at the world's most popular board game.

I've read many of the "beginner to Go" books, and this is easily my favorite. Some seem to think that this is lacking in information. Not so! I think that it's perfect in content so as not to overwhelm the novice. When you're ready for more, just read on in the next book of the "Learn To Play Go" series (up to Volume 5 as I write this).

I just finished reading Janice Kim's book, "Learn to Play GO" for the second time. It is fantastic. I bought the book based on a suggestion from somebody on the Yahoo game server. It's actually a funny story. I started playing the game after reading the rules very quickly. The rules I read made no mention of eyes. This, as you all know, caused me great pain when playing. I lost a 9x9 game 81-0. My opponent offered, "Do you want some advice?" I said, "Sure." His reply was simply, "Buy Learn to Play Go by Janice Kim." I bought it the next day and have since bought four more copies as gifts for friends. It's actually just a ploy on part to get more people to play with. ;-)

If you've always been curious about Go but have been intimidated by confusing books, this is the one for you. Most books that claim to be for beginners are too cluttered with jargon and concepts that are too advanced. This book avoids over-complexity. It is the perfect book for people who are curious about this great game. Reading this book helped me improve, and it left me hungry for even more go. Now I'm a go addict!

Buy it. I've dabbled and screwed around with learning Go a couple of times over the years, but every other introduction I've looked at has left me more confused than enlightened. Not so with this book--clear, concise, thorough, and even humorous, and almost dripping with the authors' infectous excitement for the game. And it even includes a cardboard game set! You can't go wrong. (I'm working on Vol 2 now, and it looks just as good.)